Do you need a pop of colour for fall and winter? How about some vibrant berries that not only look fabulous but also provide food for our over-wintering birds?
To take full advantage of their beauty, they should be located in an area where they can be enjoyed at their prime, while also blending with companion plantings to balance the year with four seasons of colour. Also, as many of us now live closer together in higher density situations, by being creative many berried plants can double as privacy screens. So even in small spaces winter berry colour can provide us with multiple uses.
Yes — they have thorns, but fast-growing evergreen pyracanthas provide some of the most stunning berry displays. Their orange, red or yellow berries simply glow in autumn sunshine. Their greatest “wow” impact is achieved when they are fanned out against a fence or wall in an espalier form.
Birds love the berries, especially during cold, snowy weather when little other food is available. When the neighbours’ pesky cats and dogs come onto our properties and leave little “treasures,” pyracanthas make a beautiful but thorny fence or barrier to deter them. Pyracanthas need a sunny location to berry up well.
For a privacy screen, the willow leaf cotoneaster (cotoneaster salicifolius) is one of the best. Fanned out on a simple trellis, this very fast-growing evergreen will fit the bill in sun or partial shade and even on small space balconies.
Its willow-like leaves are thornless and can be easily trained along a balcony railing or fence. Masses of white spring flowers turn into vibrant red berries all winter — berries the birds also can enjoy.
If you have window boxes or planters that need a spark of colour and life, the beautiful and tasty berries of wintergreen (gaultheria procumbens) will add that finishing touch. With their glossy leaves and huge berries, they thrive in both garden beds and planters. They need well-drained, preferably barky, blended soils.
Our native evergreen lingonberries (vaccinium ovatum) are also a winter superstar. Their smaller tart but tasty winter berries have high levels of anti-oxidants, like their cousin, the blueberry. I think they are one of the most under-used plants in today’s gardens.
If purple is your colour, then callicarpa is your plant. Nothing screams purple like these deciduous shrubs that perform best in sun and are equally at home in planters or ground beds.
During winter, I love to surround them with a complementary planting of dusty miller. Callicarpas are even sold as cut flower stems for indoor enjoyment.
These are but a few of winter’s multi-purpose superstars ready to add some zip to your small space garden or container not only in fall and winter, but year round.
Best time to plant? Ten years ago. Second best time? Today.
